Luckily, we are the kind of people that have friends in high places…and when I say high places I mean we know where to get a good landscaper….and lots of Mexicans to help 😉 We are SO thankful for Raul’s uncle, Francisco.  He has been the biggest help when it came to grading our front and back lawns and removing severals bushes, trees, and stumps.  He brought over a small dump truck and a Bobcat to assist with the job.  Here’s what we had to start with.

The front yard consisted of one dead tree, two tree stumps, and several clumps of ivy that seemed to invade everything! We also had to deal with several bricks and concrete blocks buried in the front yard and that awful looking bush by the front porch.  Luckily, we did manage to salvage several plants from the tangle of weeds along the front walk.

In the backyard my number one complaint is the lumpy…lack of grass. These two huge pine trees are preventing anything but vines from growing.  And these vines are atrocious! My mom and I spent a good afternoon yanking them off the garage, out of the ground, and down from the tree. They are everywhere! Also, some genius decided at some point it would be a good idea to pour concrete directly over the roots of these pine trees. Obviously he forgot to read Landscaping for Dummies.  Breaking up all that concrete and hauling it away was all the workout that we needed for one day!…make that one week! 😉

I honestly didn’t even know where to start to make this yard somewhere I could enjoy being outside. So I did what I always do when I don’t have a plan- I forgot about it entirely! I passed the job on to Raul. He gets to create something cool, I get to create something even cooler (inside) and we have one less fight! Yay! Winners all around!

He came up with a really cool design concept one day at work (ahem!).

Francisco came over the next weekend to help turn the design into a reality. The first step was to take out that awful bush and the dead tree. Then he had to dig out the two tree stumps and level out the yard to make it flat and the same height as our neighbor’s lawn.

Francisco used all the extra dirt to fill in on the side of the house (where we had water running into the basement due to a negative grade) and in the backyard.  Unfortunately one of the stumps was so big (about 6 ft in diameter) that it was impossible to dig it all out with the Bobcat.  Francisco suggested that instead of paying to have the whole stump removed we should build the area up and create a raised flower bed. Pretty colors and less money?! Sign me up!

So now we have a cool little rock and flower bed.  The crew transplanted a bunch of hosta plants to create a little background foliage for the flowers that we will eventually have…like next Spring.

Raul’s stepdad got to tilling the front yard and raking it to prepare for new grass seed and straw.  The best part of watching Beto run the tiller was seeing how much his cheeks jiggled with the movement of that machine. Raul’s mom and I stood for a long time at the living room window and observed. Learning through osmosis, you know 😉

The next, day Franciso tackled the back yard. He started by placing the dirt in a way to create a backyard with two levels.  Then he used the Bobcat to sort of cut out the circular shape that we wanted.

Then, we had to haul in the landscaping blocks. There were seriously like 90 of these things. And they weigh a ton! Okay, not literally. But they do weigh enough to make bending my arms the next day very, very painful.  The blocks were placed to create a half moon shape and make sure that the dirt did not slide forward or shift at all. After a bit more tilling and raking it started to look like a backyard again (backyardigan? LOL)

Francisco crafted some stairs out of the cement blocks that used to comprise the firepit.  I dig it! We tilled the backyard and added some grass seed and straw here, too! I think the results are amazing! I can’t wait until the grass grows.

The last step was cutting the bottom branches out of the pine trees which really helped to open up the space and allow some much needed sunshine to come in.  And that was a job for SuperDad! Raul talked to the neighbors to let them know we might have to go in to their backyard to remove the fallen pine branches. They were more than happy to oblige and even let us know that they have big plans for the landscaping on their house. They even asked if Francisco would be able to help them out, too! Score 1 for Francisco! And Score 2 for our escalating house value! Raul’s mom, Margarita, and his sister, Ivette, helped us gather up all the branches and save them for firewood or haul them away to be burned over at my parents’ house.

The next step is to bring small sized gravel to fill in the dirt areas and natural mulch to put around the trees. Hopefully we’ll get some more nice weather soon so we can get that done!

For now, we’re hoping for lots of sunshine and plenty of rain so that we can get some green back into our yard!

Even though there was tons to do outside, there was plenty of work for others to do inside…including making a delicious lunch (because the men would be worthless without it!)

My mom, Margarita, and Raul’s little brother Pavel all helped get the inside prepped for the next big project. And Blanca was there, too! She was just behind the camera! 😉 Thanks for the pics, Blanca!

What a productive weekend! Thanks for the help everyone! Y en especial muchsimas gracias a Pancho!!!!